Just watching the Shapeoko pro video, when the belt widths have been increased to 15mm. Looking at my machine, a Shapeoko 3 with a Z plus, it looks pretty possible to install 15mm belts. There is enough room, although it would mean longer standoffs for the X stepper motor, a spacer to fit the wider belt on the guides, a wider pulley and a different belt attachment fitting. On the video, Winston mentioned that the steel core belts had difficulty with the tight bends and this reduced their life span. Any opinions?
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The belt change was a good idea. Steel cores can last but are significantly more sensitive to tension.
I think the toughest thing will be the tensioners with offset mounting holes.
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I’m actually surprised the steel core belts were added in the first place. The 3D printing world has learned awhile ago that to use them properly, you need a significantly larger diameter pulley so the belts don’t work harden prematurely. The Gates belts with aramid fibers are amazing.
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I have been fighting with my steel core belts from go. They like to move back to the first position that I set them in.
I am a little upset after seeing the Pro video. After owning my XXL since March they release the machine that I wanted and I have been trying to get it too. I have slowly been trying to engineer the design. I machine mostly hard maple and I have come to the same conclusions Carbide did. Larger belt and elimination of v wheels. Now I am hoping they can come up with at least a semi-pro upgrade of us S3 owners. My CFO(wife) will not allow me to purchase the pro until I can make the return on the S3 and enough to justify cost SP.
Well,
If there’s no factory option, there’s others working on it 
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Might want to look at 10mm belts. I have been running steel core 10mm and they seem to last a good bit longer than the 9mm when it comes to work hardening. I would have to look back to see when I put this set on, but they have lasted longer than any belt (fiber or steel core) that I have run so far.
I am looking into how I could run a larger width authentic Gates belts, though.
Of course there is…I am currently working on it…But damn it Jim, I’m a woodworker not an engineer. lol. I’m sure they could sell the rails, new 15mm pulleys, spacers to add rails, etc for less then I can source them for. Fingers crossed…
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Problem is, as they said in the video, there’s hardly any common parts and many of the key dimensions have changed, such as the X rail length, so the kit would be basically a new Shapeoko Pro.
The implementation for a retrofit to a Shaepoko XXL is not going to share many or any parts.
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Completely, agreed. You can see that there are two different beasts. I would just like to be able to take advantage of Carbide’s sourcing, pricing and hopefully some engineering. Semi-pro machine not the pro machine. I am sure they have a better idea of which of the many rail/bearings would work best with a price more reasonable. Food for thought for my friends at Carbide…
Well, I’ve ordered some 15mm pulleys and 5 metres of belt. Not sure how it will work out, and I certainly have no idea how to clamp the belt, but I’ll burn those bridges when I come to them.
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